Night Owl (The Complete Serial)

Before he finishes, I learn my lesson as the glass slices deeply into my hand. “Damn!”

Devin pulls me back and grabs a blanket off the ratty couch. I don’t even know whose apartment we’re in, and I don’t care. I feel a stinging on my back, cuts and bruises everywhere. My hand is a mess, and that swimming feeling overcomes me for a second.

“Dev… I don’t think I can—” Swirling darkness starts to suck me down when he grabs me roughly.

“We need to get out. Shake it off, soldier.” Devin shakes me, treating me like some video game character. His voice is stern and commanding. He’s in the zone and somehow manages to get the window open after breaking it and pulling up the jammed sash, swiping the broken glass out of the way.

I peer over the ledge once he’s outside on the landing. A rusty ladder hangs down, leaving us with about ten feet to drop. He uses everything he’s got to haul me out the window, and I’m thankful I fit without too many more slices to my skin. “I don’t think I can.”

“You have you to jump down there.” He points to the ground and frowns, his face covered in soot and the whites of his eyes the only visible glow. “Who the hell am I going to torment if you don’t?”

My hand still clutches my phone, and he takes it from me and tosses it down. James had put the phone in one of those gorilla cases to protect it, we were about to learn if the added cost was worth it. It bounces off the concrete with a loud snapping sound, and I pray my new phone isn’t broken. I hope that’s not what he has in mind for our escape. I may not be a phone, but I could still break a leg jumping that far down. Devin smiles, and he’s no longer that creepy asshole; he’s just a guy helping me escape from a burning building. I wonder how much we’ve misunderstood each other all this time.

Sirens from firetrucks and police cars belt out their lonely wail. Bright lights blind us, and men in yellow suits and reflective gear retrieve us from the fire escape. I finally notice other building occupants huddled on the sidewalk crowded in the street looking at us. Rough hands pull me from Devin’s grasp and assist me before they help him down, as well. Looking up at the building that used to be my home, I’m scared. The paramedics help me to a stretcher, asking questions I can’t answer. I feel sick, and nothing comes up except a series of dry heaves. My throat feels like it will never stop hurting.

Arms in a blue uniform cover me with a blanket as I shiver in the muggy morning air. Devin, my rescuer, has disappeared, but my phone materializes from somewhere, and I use my code to access my recent calls. James’ number is right there, and I press the send button with shaky fingers, praying he’ll pick it up.

28

James

My phone rings, waking me from a deep sleep filled with dreams of a certain lovely woman and her captivating curves. A glance at the clock tells me it’s 5:10 a.m. Looking at the number, I see it’s Casey. Smiling, I pick up the call. “Babe, I didn’t know you missed me so much.”

“James…” Her hoarse voice tells me this isn’t a sexting call, and I get up, tossing blankets to the floor.

“Where are you? What happened?” Immediately, I’m in my closet, pushing things out of the way, tripping on the pile of shit I meant to return to Casey’s unwanted drawers. I grab pants and whatever will pass for a shirt.

“T-there was a fire, and I’m in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.” Her voice breaks on a racking cough, and my gut clenches in a cramp. She said there was a fire, but she’s in an ambulance… relax, Rambo. She’s alive, she’s talking.

“What hospital?”

“St. Joseph’s.” She’s wheezing now, and I hear the paramedic in the background telling her to hang up the phone.

“Honey, give the medic the phone.” I don’t want her unattended or getting less-than-adequate care.

“James?”

“Casey, just give him the fucking phone. Please. I’m coming to get you.”

I talk to the medic, who tells me he’s put an oxygen mask over her face. She’ll need to be treated for smoke inhalation, burns, cuts, and other injuries. I would’ve never left her in her apartment if I’d known this could happen.

I tell them to take her to Thomas Jefferson Hospital instead. They have a burn unit, and I’ve donated a shit ton to their children’s affiliate, so I’m on a first-name basis with the hospital board. I’ll buy a fucking new wing if that’s what it takes. He assures me they can be there soon, and I can’t get my shoes on quickly enough.

I don’t speak to her again, but I click the app on my phone that Eli had me download. Since Casey’s phone is now on my plan, I can track her location. The phone pulls up a map of Philadelphia on my screen, and I watch the icon turn around and head south toward Thomas Jefferson Hospital. I realize how much of a creep move tracking her phone is and resolve myself to yet another discussion for us to have, but there will be no relief until I see her beautiful face safe and in one piece.

I throw the car into park and hurry for the emergency room entrance, bypassing rushing orderlies and patients. Nurses call out to me, but I ignore them. Reaching the first bay, I peek in, but the groans tell me the eighty-year-old man is not my Casey.

“Dude, over here.” A voice that grates on my nerves calls me over. It’s Casey’s weird neighbor, Devin. He pulls the curtain back so I can step inside.

“Casey!” I push him out of my way and stand next to her bedside. An IV tube pinches her skin, and a mask covers her face. She reaches up with a bandaged hand to pull it off her pale, dirty cheeks.

“She’s gotta keep that on ’til the doctor comes back to read her oxygen levels.” I glare at Devin, who I realize is also covered in soot and dirt. A tug on my arm pulls my attention back to Casey.

“James, I’m okay. Be nice.” Her voice is a breathless wheeze. I kiss her lips quickly before replacing the oxygen mask.

“You need this more right now.” Her eyes challenge my intrusive hands as they hold the mask over her nose and mouth. I look at Devin, who’s just as beat up, and blame him, my fury barely contained. “What the fuck happened this morning?” He’s holding his own portable oxygen mask and has a few scrapes on his arms, a burn on his leg, but doesn’t look nearly as rough as Casey.

“I fell asleep playing Halo on my couch and woke up to smoke. I found her trying to go down the stairs where the fire looked the worst. I pulled her back up, and we busted the door to a neighbor’s apartment and got out on the fire escape about the same time the fire trucks arrived.”